Seventh-ranked Hopkins women’s lacrosse fell 12-10 to 12th-ranked Penn State on the road on Friday night. The Jays were outscored 8-3 in the second half by the Nittany Lions, who moved to 9-6 on the season and 3-3 in American Lacrosse Conference Action. The Jays fell to 12-3 on the season and 2-3 in the ALC. Seniors Taylor D’Amore and Sammy Cermack collectively totaled 10 points in the losing effort.
The Jays got off to a hot start in Happy Valley, scoring three goals in the first seven minutes. The scoring began with Cermack, who caught a pass from D’Amore and went low on Nittany Lion’s sophomore goalie Emi Smith for the score at 27:05. Senior Sarah Taylor then took a dump pass from junior Jen Cook, which she deposited over Smith’s shoulder for yet another goal less than a minute later. With that shot, Taylor became the 16th player in Johns Hopkins Division I history to reach 100 points.
“My teammate Sarah Taylor scored the 100th point of her career, which was so awesome for her,” Cermack said. “She has been a great midfielder for us the past four years, and it’s so cool to see her reach that milestone. She is a great goal-scorer, and I am very happy for her accomplishment as a teammate and classmate.”
D’Amore continued the early run for the Jays with a free position goal with 22:44 remaining in the half. The Nittany Lions stopped the bleeding with a Kristen Brent goal from seven yards out at the 20:29 mark. Sophomore Dene’ DiMartino answered right back for Hopkins with a free position goal at 15:55 to make it 4-1. That free position goal gave DiMartino the school’s single-season record in the category.
Eleven seconds later, Penn State’s Jenna Mosketti won the draw and took it herself for the goal, but Cermack scored back-to-back goals less than three minutes apart to give the Jays a 6-2 lead with 10:33 remaining. Again, Penn State responded, as they sandwiched two goals around a D’Amore free position goal with 1:50 remaining in the half.
The second half was all Nittany Lions. Ally Heavens cut Penn State’s deficit to two with a free position goal at 27:54. Madison Cyr then scored an incredible three goals in just 26 seconds to give Penn State their first lead of the game, 8-7. D’Amore responded for the Jays, rolling the crease and firing a shot past new Penn State goalie Cat Rainone at 22:24 to tie it up. Nearly nine minutes passed in long possessions by both teams before Kelly Lechner beat the Jays’ freshman goalie Caroline Federico stick-side at 13:29 to give the Nittany Lions a 9-8 advantage.
Cermack fed Cook in the slot at 10:41 for a quick-stick goal to tie the game once again, but as they had done throughout the game, the Lions responded quickly, as Cyr scored for Penn State just 21 seconds later. Penn State then proceeded to win the ensuing face-off and draw out a long possession, draining precious minutes off the clock.
With 5:21 left, Cermack fired off a shot that Rainone saved, and Penn State took possession. After a 90-second Nittany Lion possession, Cermack forced a turnover that sophomore Caroline Turco picked up. Taylor got a great look off a hard dodge on the Jay possession, but Rainone made another clutch save.
Hopkins decided to pull the goalie and double-team the ball to try to force a turnover, but it backfired when Mosketti scored on an open cage with 1:04 remaining to give Penn State an 11-9 lead. D’Amore scored her fourth goal of the game on the Jays’ next possession, but Penn State won the draw and ran off the clock until junior Jess Loizeaux scored on an open net with 6.6 seconds remaining in the game, sealing the Nittany Lion victory.
D’Amore led the way for the Jays, racking up four goals and six points, while Cermack chipped in three goals and four points. Cook also had two points. Federico corralled eight saves and two ground balls on the day.
“I think we will have no problem bouncing back from the Penn State loss”, Cermack said. “This week, we have two games, and we plan on focusing on fixing the little things and working together better as an offensive unit. When our offense flows and everyone is involved, we are so fun to watch and very hard to stop, so we plan on getting back to that in ODU and then building on it for Ohio State on Saturday.”
The Lady Jays took on Old Dominion University on Wednesday and came out victorious. After a slow start, the score was 4-4 at the end of the first half. The second half started an offensive explosion that led Hopkins to a 14-5 win.
Cermack led the way scoring a total of five goals.
Hopkins will host Ohio State Saturday at Homewood Field.
